Museum of the Occupation in German Tourism and Geography Magazine

This year’s June edition of the prestigious German magazine Merian featured Riga. Eight pages of this wonderfully illustrated magazine are dedicated to the article “Echte Feinde, falsche Freunde”, meaning ‘Real Enemies, False Friends’. The article contains a mix of information about the Museum of The Occupation of Latvia, the history of the occupation, and the recollections of theater critic Valentina Freimane.

The article is illustrated with photographs of the museum’s period artifact collection. It closes with an interview of the Museum Association Board’s Chairman Walter Nollendorf titled “Die Letten sollten als Volk verschwinden”, or ‘Latvians as a people had to disappear’. Both the main and temporary locations are given in the magazine, along with a note that the building at Raina Boulevard 7 is the museum’s temporary residence until 2015. Overall the article was thoughtful and factually correct, however it incorrectly states that only 17,900 individuals fought in the Latvian Legion.